


Hidden in Plain Sight

by WakeUpDreaming



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Missing Scene, Ralph is a prankster, Team Dynamics, scavenger hunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-14
Updated: 2015-11-14
Packaged: 2018-05-01 14:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5209301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpDreaming/pseuds/WakeUpDreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set somewhere between 1x14 and 1x16, Happy finds her wrenches hidden on top of a book case and immediately assumes it's Toby messing with her. For once in her life she's wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hidden in Plain Sight

“Alright,” Happy says, hands on her hips, glaring at the garage. “Who was it?”

For once in his life, Toby is fairly certain he’s not the one to blame for whatever Happy is angry about. “Who was what?” he asks, standing up.

“Don’t you try that,” Happy says firmly. She points at him. “Do you think this is funny?”

“I don’t have any idea what’s going on,” Toby says, walking toward her, “so no?”

She studies his face for a few minute, looking confused. “You didn’t put all my wrenches on the top shelf?”

“No,” Toby says, “but that’s a great idea.”

“Oh, shut up,” Happy says. She frowns and then mumbles something incoherent.

“What?” Toby asks.

“Can you get them?” she grumbles, crossing her arms across her chest.

Toby fights a smile. “Oh,” he says, feigning confusion, “can you not reach them?”

“Don’t make me hit you,” Happy grumbles.

Toby reaches up and stands on the tips of his toes to reach Happy’s tools. He has to admit – somebody did a pretty damn good job of messing with Happy. Toby kind of wishes he had come up with this first.

He shifts a little to get a little more length on his arm just in time to see Happy with her eyes locked on his stomach where his shirt has pulled up.

“Hey, Happy,” he says. She half jumps.

“What?” she asks, her face turning a little bit pink.

He grabs the tools and settles back on the floor. “Were you checking me out?”

“No!” Happy says, turning even pinker. “Now give me my wrenches.”

“Nah,” Toby says, holding her tools just out of her reach, “not until you admit it.”

“I wasn’t checking you out!” Happy says, and she stands on her toes to grab the tools. “I just – I was just looking.”

“Looking at me,” he says. He reaches his hand up even more, making sure his shirt shifts again. “What do you think, Hap? Think I look good? I think you think I look good.”

“Shut up,” Happy whines, but he can hear a little bit of laughter in her voice. “I’m not –” Whatever she was going to say fails as her eyes flicker down. “I hate you.”

“No you don’t,” Toby says, wiggling his hips. “You think I’m hot,” he sing songs. “You like my body.”

Happy groans. “Do you have to be such a butt head about it?”

Toby stops. “Was that an admission?” He’s not particularly certain where this is going.

“Not if you’re going to be a butt head about it,” Happy grumbles.

Toby grins. “I won’t be a butt head about it if you just tell me you think I’m cute.”

“You’re not cute,” Happy says, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, so you think I’m hot?”

“You stare at my ass whenever you think I’m not looking, and you get all moony eyed whenever I put my hair up,” Happy says back. She looks too smug for this to end well for Toby. “You definitely think I’m hot.”

“Of course I do,” Toby says honestly. “You’re beautiful. You know that.”

Happy looks completely floored. “What?”

Toby stares at her. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Happy rolls her eyes, folding herself back into a defensive position. She shrugs instead of answering.

“Look, I don’t have any idea what just happened. Can I get a life line?”

Happy shrugs again. “Can we just drop it?”

Toby leans away from him, giving her some space in case she wants to leave. “If you want to,” he says.

Happy avoids his eyes when she says, “I don’t think anyone’s called me beautiful in a long time.”

Because Toby can’t help himself, he says, “I can say it a couple more times if you want.”

Happy rolls her eyes, but she manages a smile at him. “I’d still rather be badass.”

“You’re badass and beautiful,” Toby says. “That work?”

Happy groans. “Could you just give me my tools?”

Toby hands them over to her. “Want to mess with everybody until someone admits they hid your tools?”

Happy considers it for a moment, then grabs Toby’s hand behind her desk. “I’ve got a plan.”

~

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Happy shouts, throwing her hands in the air. “I thought you were better than this, Toby, I really did.”

“Well, I’m sorry,” Toby says back, sticking with the script. “Maybe I’m just sick of being under-appreciated over here!”

“That’s because you don’t have anything to appreciate!”

He hears Cabe say, “Ouch,” and Toby feels a nice sense of pride flare inside him. He’s the one who came up with that line.

“What’s wrong with you two?” asks Paige, looking horrified. “You’ve never fought this bad!”

“She started it!” Toby says. “She’s convinced I stole her tools!”

“That’s because you did steal my tools, you tool,” Happy says, and the glare is so intense it almost feels real.

He throws the glare back at her. “No,” he says, “I didn’t. You’re just being an asshole.”

Happy’s eyes narrow. “Are you serious right now?” Happy says, her voice dangerously quiet.

Toby throws his arms in the air. “Fine,” he says. “I’m leaving.”

He turns to leave, but the person who hid the tools isn’t coming out to confess. This is backwards from what he’d predicted. The culprit was supposed to feel bad and come forward so they could mock them and all that. Toby doesn’t like getting in trouble for things he didn’t do but he does like messing with people.

“Fine!” Happy says. “Go! I don’t – I don’t need a tool thief!”

Toby speeds up his walk out of the garage for the sole reason that he’s going to laugh too damn hard if he stays in there for much longer.

He stops by Paige’s car and suddenly hopes they don’t get a case, because this could get really awkward really fast.

He peeks into the window to see what’s happening next.

There’s Happy, standing in front of Paige and looking annoyed.

Toby strains to listen and finally catches their conversation.

“Are you mad because he hid your tools, or because he called you beautiful and you can’t handle that?”

Happy sighs. “You guys heard that?”

“I think we all underestimate the way noise carries in this place,” Cabe says. “And, yeah. Some of it, at least.”

“How did it go from stealing the tools to you screaming at him again?” Paige asks.

Happy looks half panicked. “I – don’t like when people lie to me,” she lies horribly.

Paige quirks an eyebrow. “The whole prank thing isn’t going to work,” Paige says.

“What prank?” Happy asks. “I don’t do pranks.”

Toby winces. Happy really can’t lie for the life of her. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Happy says, concluding poorly.

“You can come back in now, Toby,” Paige yells across the garage.

Toby walks back in, feeling sheepish. “I blame the acoustics in here,” he defends, “otherwise we would have pulled that off.”

Happy swings a wrench in her hand. “Seriously though. Which one of you idiots hit my tools?”

Cabe, Paige, and Sly look at each other. “Wasn’t me,” Cabe says. “I’ve got better things to do.”

“I just assumed it was Toby,” Paige says, shrugging. “That is, until you started your bad dinner theater.”

Everyone looks at Sly.

“Oh, come on,” he says. “Really? You think it was me?”

Just then, Ralph walks in from the bus and immediately his eyes lock on Happy’s wrench. “Aw, come on!” he says, looking disappointed and sounding exactly like Sly. “You found them already?”

“You hid them?” Toby asks. “How did you get them up there?”

Ralph looks at the adults with a mixture of pity and understanding. “You guys don’t know we have a ladder in here?” They all turn their heads to look where Ralph points and, lo and behold, they do indeed have a ladder.

“Huh,” says Toby, walking over to it. “I didn’t even know we had a ladder.”

“You guys miss a lot more than you realize,” Paige offers. “And Ralph? You are not allowed to go on that ladder again unless somebody is holding it and spotting you. I don’t want you falling.”

Ralph deflates a little. “Okay. But then one of you is going to have to find everything else.”

“What did you even hide?” Toby asks, lost.

Ralph grins, something mischievous and childlike, and he rocks back on his heels. “You’ll have to figure it out!”

He darts off upstairs, Paige following him calling, “Ralph! You get back here!”

“I don’t know about you,” says Toby, “but I’d be willing to bet that everything is only accessible using that ladder.” He walks over to it and gestures to it. “Happy?”

She walks over to the ladder and stares at him. “You just want to stare at my butt as I walk up the ladder,” she says.

He briefly considers denying it, and then instead shrugs. “I mean, yeah. But also I’d probably be better at stabilizing the ladder for you.”

Happy folds her arms across her chest. “You climb the ladder. I’ll spot you.”

“Do you want you want to stare at my butt as I walk up the ladder?” Toby asks, weirdly hoping that Happy’s going to leer at him. “Because I’ve been doing a look of squats and lunges and let me tell you, I’ve reached the point of bootylicious.”

Happy raises an eyebrow. “You think I haven’t noticed?”

Toby stares at her. “That was forward.”

“You call yourself bootylicious, I’m going to look,” Happy says, shrugging. “Get up that ladder.”

Toby suddenly feels a little self conscious as he climbs the ladder, because Happy’s definitely staring and definitely laughing.

“See anything up there?” Happy calls. “Because there’s a full –”

“You are not allowed to use that joke on me,” Toby says, leaning forward. “But, actually yes.” He leans forward into a crawl space, pulling himself through. “Also, I think I found Ferret Bueller’s hide out. And Paige’s iPod.”

“What?” Happy says. “I can’t hear anything and from this angle you are literally a pair of legs and a butt.”

Toby scrambles to find purchase on the ladder, catching it with his feet. “You got me?”

“I got you,” Happy says. “Just don’t fall.”

“Trying not to,” Toby says. “Catch.”

Toby checks behind him to make sure Happy’s facing him and drops the iPod in her hands.

“Hey Paige!” Happy calls. “Remember that time you thought the ferret stole your iPod?”

Paige stops where she’s halfway down the stairs. “Ralph,” she says seriously.

He smiles at her sheepishly. “Mom,” he says equally seriously.

Paige sighs, apparently not even wanting to start that battle. “Where’s everything else?”

“There’s a calculator – somewhere,” Ralph says. “Walter’s stylus is – somewhere else. And Toby’s lucky pen is – somewhere else.”

“We’ll find it,” Toby says, waving them off. “And Ralph, kiddo – you’re the reason I lost that game of Risk last night.”

“No,” Happy says. “I’m the reason you lost Risk last night.”

“You, Ralph, and the Anti-Toby Coalition,” Toby grumbles. “Point me in the right direction, kiddo.”

Ralph points directly up. “You don’t even want to know how hard it was to get up there,” he says, very seriously.

Toby climbs down the ladder and he and Happy swing it against the wall next to the stairs.

“I don’t think I can fit up there,” Toby says. “Happy?”

She grins at him. “Are you going to ogle me or something?”

He shrugs. “I mean you looked at my butt, so I figure it’s only fair.”

Happy climbs up the ladder and pulls herself up into a crevice.

“How did Ralph even get up here?!” she asks, her voice echoing around beams.

“Our little scorpling must have more upper body strength than we thought,” Toby says. “Maybe he should be our muscle from now on.”

“Don't even start with that!” comes Paige’s voice from upstairs. “Don't even think about it, Ralph.”

Happy dangles her legs out of the crawl space. “This is a great view,” Happy says. “I’m a little concerned this beam is about to crumble underneath me and I’ll plummet twenty feet to my death, but it’s pretty cool.”

Toby frowns. “Shouldn’t you probably come down now? I don’t want you dying or anything.”

“Give me a second,” says Happy. She twists her body and lowers herself down onto the ladder. She steps down the ladder quickly, but suddenly her boot misses the rung. Before Toby’s processed the situation, Happy’s colliding with him and they crash onto the floor.

“Glad you landed on something soft,” Toby groans.

Happy looks a little delirious as she sits up and rolls off Toby’s legs. “We should probably cool it with the ladder,” she says.

“You can’t,” Ralph yells from upstairs. “You still have to find the calculator and the pen!”

Toby stretches out against the floor. “You’re too smart for your own good, kid,” Toby grumbles.

Happy holds her hand straight up. “At least I found the stylus. Now Walter can stop whining about everything.” She sets it over on the counter and stands up. “You okay?”

Toby makes a slightly pathetic whimper and Happy rolls her eyes. “Stand up, you big whiner.”

She holds out her hand and Toby takes it, letting her pull him up.

“Where to next, Ralph?” Happy asks.

“Ralph needs to do his homework,” Paige says firmly. “He’s all done with this little scavenger hunt.”

Toby’s face falls. “But I haven’t found my pen!”

Happy turns to him, folding her arms across her chest. “You always want to prove how good you are at reading people,” she says. “Read Ralph. Where would he hide your stuff?”

Toby thinks about it for a minute. “He’s small. He’s a kid. So he probably is thinking of places that would be out of his reach, because that’s what he’d see as the best hiding spot.” Toby looks up. “I’m thinking the top of the refrigerator.”

He hops up to slide his hands on top of the fridge and pulls down, “The calculator!” he says. “Hey, Sly’s been looking for this for ages!”

“Impressive,” Happy says. “Now, can you find your pen?”

Toby clears through the entire place. He climbs the ladder three times, digs through the fridge twice, looks through the hardly used cabinets two times each, and gives up after an hour.

“It’s gone,” Toby says, feeling miserable. “I’m never going to find my luck ever again.”

“Oh, you had to look like a sad puppy,” Happy says, sighing. She walks over to her desk and pulls open her top drawer. She scrambles in the papers and pulls out –

“My pen,” Toby says a little reverently. “Wait! You knew it was there all along?”

Happy shrugs and tosses the pen to Toby. “I wanted to see if you’d figure it out.”

“Why would I?” Toby asks. “That doesn’t even make sense. Why he would hide it in your desk.”

Happy looks at him in a way that makes him feel like she’s trying to read his mind. “I,” she says, slowly, “don’t know why he’d put it in my desk.” She bites her lip and looks at Toby. “But at least we found it.”

“Yeah,” says Toby, feeling a lot better, “and maybe I’ll get lucky soon.”

Happy just stares at him. “Seriously?”

Toby frowns. “What?”

“Did you just hear what you said?” she asks, looking incredulous.

Toby runs through the conversation in his head. “See, that one wasn’t actually on purpose.”

Happy smiles slowly. “Are you sure it wasn’t on purpose?” Happy asks.

Toby nods. “Yep.”

She walks away from him and back to her desk. “Just like the pen was just randomly in my desk, huh?” she says. “Interesting.”

Toby is suddenly completely baffled, by the pen and by Happy and essentially by everything. And Toby hates feeling baffled.

Ralph walks down the stairs. “I’m allowed to be down here,” he says. "Mom said I could take a break."

“I didn’t doubt that for a second,” Toby says. “Water break.”

Ralph nods.

Toby reaches up and gets a cup from the cabinet and hands it to Ralph.

“Can I tell you a secret?” Ralph asks.

Toby nods and leans down.

“I put your pen in Happy’s desk because you guys like each other,” Ralph whispers.

Toby looks at Ralph. “What now?”

Ralph looks at him and he looks so much like Paige with the way he’s staring through Toby that it makes Toby a little uncomfortable. “Come on,” Ralph says. “Even I can tell. She likes you back. It’s just gonna take some time.”

Toby can’t help himself from looking over at Happy, who has her eyes locked on an old laptop’s hardware.

“You really think so, kid?” Toby says quietly. Ralph is incredibly perceptive with the team. Toby’s pretty sure it’s because he spent so much time silent around others. And now that he’s speaking, he’s got a lot to say.

Ralph nods. “Just give it some time. She’ll come around.”

Toby looks over at Happy just as she tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “I hope so, kiddo,” Toby says, “I hope so.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know where this came from but it happened.


End file.
